"It is no secret that the world’s oceans are swimming with plastic debris — the first floating masses of trash were discovered in the 1990s. But researchers are starting to get a better sense of the size and scope of the problem."
"A slight increase in air temperature over the past half-century has caused waters to warm more than two degrees in tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay, a change that could reduce the expected benefits of the multibillion-dollar bay cleanup plan and eventually alter the behaviors of marine animals, a new study says."
"The federal government’s big-money commitment to restoring the Great Lakes is now almost certain to continue another five years thanks to House passage Tuesday of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative of 2014."
"Rebuilding Louisiana's coast, including the rapidly eroding Mississippi River delta, should be the main use of billions of dollars in expected BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill fine and restoration money, according to two reports released Tuesday by the National Wildlife Federation and a coalition of national and Louisiana environmental groups."
"Gov.-elect Larry Hogan promised Maryland farmers Monday that his 'first fight' in office would be against costly new farm pollution regulations, even as environmental groups released new data showing many Eastern Shore chicken farms could be fouling the Chesapeake Bay."
"The state hopes to save its rapidly disappearing coastline with a 50-year, $50 billion plan based on science that’s never been tested and money it doesn’t have. What could go wrong?"
"Every year coal-burning power plants generate not only electricity, but a staggering amount of leftover coal ash that contains heavy metals unhealthy to humans. Yet due in part to intense industry lobbying, there are no federal regulations on its disposal. It's left to the states to oversee some of the most powerful utility companies in the country."
"Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, encouraged by whopping awards and settlements in other states, could join what one analyst calls a 'nationwide cascade' of litigation against the oil industry for its use years ago of a gasoline additive that has contaminated groundwater across the state."
"California Republicans are going to have the chance to show their constituents that sending more water to the state's parched farmers and residents remains a priority for them, even after bicameral negotiations fell through last month."
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants the federal appeals court in New Orleans to overturn an order that forces the EPA to decide whether federal rules are needed to curb the flow of pollutants into the Mississippi River. The pollutants ultimately feed a low-oxygen "dead zone" along Louisiana's coast each spring."
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